Choosing racial bonuses (NOTE: w/ bonus pack)
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I've been thinking about the cost/benefit of certain bonuses in the bonus pack.
Specifically, I am focusing on the planet quality bonus's ability to turn useless planets into useful ones, where useful is defined as net planet quality greater that or equal to 16 (NPQ>=16). I have been playing on habitable planets uncommon, because that's my bias. (So there.) With higher or lower abundances of good planets, the analysis below is probably irrelevant.
IIRC, the panet quality bonuses are
Cost....Bonus (%)
3 .... 5
7 .... 10
9 .... 15
I've been playing with planet quality abundance uncommon, so class 12-14 planets are plentiful. They can be settled, but they're pretty marginal. After building the soil enhancer and habitat improvement, the extra 5% will raise the planet rating by at least 1 for all planets with base quality 12 or above with the exception of 15.
OPQ = original planet quality
NPQ = Net planet quality (w/ Soil Enh., Habitat Impr. and racial bonus)
TB = Total bonus (20% + racaial bonus)
..| 20% 25% 30% 35%
OPQ | --------- NPQ -----------
_12__| 14 15 15 16
_13__| 15 16 16 17
_14__| 16 17 18 18
_15__| 18 18 19 20
Given this, I fail to see why a 10% bonus costs 7 pts instead of 6.
Using 9 pts to get +15% is powerful, but puts all your eggs in one basket. A viable strategy, but a bit risky. Has anyone tried this?
The other ability that struck me was bonus movement (+1/+2 sectors: 4/8 pts). Since your early freightors and constructors only move 1/turn, moving 2/turn could make a big difference on early resource grabs ... assuming you could build enough constructors, of course. Fortunately, +1 move costs 4 points, which leave 6 points to get +50% military production -- speeding up your constructor construction considerably. (Say that ten time fast.)
I'm going to try one of these tonight, not sure which.
Specifically, I am focusing on the planet quality bonus's ability to turn useless planets into useful ones, where useful is defined as net planet quality greater that or equal to 16 (NPQ>=16). I have been playing on habitable planets uncommon, because that's my bias. (So there.) With higher or lower abundances of good planets, the analysis below is probably irrelevant.
IIRC, the panet quality bonuses are
Cost....Bonus (%)
3 .... 5
7 .... 10
9 .... 15
I've been playing with planet quality abundance uncommon, so class 12-14 planets are plentiful. They can be settled, but they're pretty marginal. After building the soil enhancer and habitat improvement, the extra 5% will raise the planet rating by at least 1 for all planets with base quality 12 or above with the exception of 15.
OPQ = original planet quality
NPQ = Net planet quality (w/ Soil Enh., Habitat Impr. and racial bonus)
TB = Total bonus (20% + racaial bonus)
..| 20% 25% 30% 35%
OPQ | --------- NPQ -----------
_12__| 14 15 15 16
_13__| 15 16 16 17
_14__| 16 17 18 18
_15__| 18 18 19 20
Given this, I fail to see why a 10% bonus costs 7 pts instead of 6.
Using 9 pts to get +15% is powerful, but puts all your eggs in one basket. A viable strategy, but a bit risky. Has anyone tried this?
The other ability that struck me was bonus movement (+1/+2 sectors: 4/8 pts). Since your early freightors and constructors only move 1/turn, moving 2/turn could make a big difference on early resource grabs ... assuming you could build enough constructors, of course. Fortunately, +1 move costs 4 points, which leave 6 points to get +50% military production -- speeding up your constructor construction considerably. (Say that ten time fast.)
I'm going to try one of these tonight, not sure which.
